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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Urban Works
Salesrank: 1206
Released: August 2, 2005 |
| Our Price: $8.99 |
| Used Price: $7.41 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Looking back at season 1 of The Cosby Show, it's easy to forget that momentous history was being made. Not only did this immensely popular sitcom hold the #1 spot among all network TV shows for five consecutive seasons (a record that still stands), but it promoted an evolutionary progression that influenced the entire TV industry from that point forward. African Americans had enjoyed sitcom success in the past (on Julia, The Jeffersons, and Good Times), but the idealized family of Cliff and Clair Huxtable (Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad) represented a new and quietly revolutionary perspective; married for 21 years with five children (one in college, a detail unmentioned in the pilot episode), the Huxtables were happy and successful (he's a doctor, she's a lawyer), and issues of race were almost entirely irrelevant to the show's universal appeal. Making their Thursday-night debut on September 20, 1984, they were conceived by Cosby (as "executive consultant Dr. William H. Cosby Jr., Ed.D."), cocreators Ed. Weinberger and Michael Leeson, and executive producers Tom Werner and Marcy Carsey, with a matter-of-fact approach to upgrading the African American image, built upon Cosby's rubber-faced popularity as a stand-up comedian and rooted in the complete and unbiased integration of the black experience into the American mainstream. More to the point, The Cosby Show was eminently respectable family entertainment, perhaps too squeaky-clean for some tastes, but immediately popular at a time when Eddie Murphy (in Beverly Hills Cop) was honing a more profane image that Cosby disapproved of.
The show was also perfectly cast for mass appeal, from the irresistible precociousness of Keshia Knight Pulliam (as the youngest and most charming Huxtable daughter, Rudy) to the stylish adolescence of Lisa Bonet (years before her controversial role in Angel Heart) as 16-year-old Denise; Malcolm-Jamal Warner as outspoken teenager Theo; Tempestt Bledsoe as sensible younger daughter Vanessa; and Sabrina LaBeauf as college student and eventual mother of twins, Sondra. Combined with the effortless chemistry of Cosby and Rashad (credited in Season 1 as Phylicia Ayers Allen), the entire cast forged an easygoing, loosely-rehearsed dynamic that was genuinely familial.
Given The Cosby Show's immense popularity, it's deeply regrettable that the exorbitant cost of original music rights resulted in this DVD release of edited episodes that were shortened, with different music cues added, for perpetual syndication. Fans eager to see the original NBC broadcasts were understandably outraged, and this shortcoming should be addressed in DVD releases of subsequent seasons. In truth, the episodes (including "Goodbye, Mr. Fish," a perfect example of the show's universal appeal) are not significantly diminished by the careful editing; for casual fans, the difference is barely worth mentioning. And while the 90-minute bonus feature "The Cosby Show: A Look Back" (a clip show originally broadcast May 19, 2002) suffers from the conspicuous absence of Bonet (who by then had mostly retreated from show business), it duly conveys the long-term value (and moral values) of the series, which singlehandedly restored the fortunes of NBC while embracing familial togetherness that would inform many of the popular sitcoms that followed its noble example. --Jeff Shannon
The Cosby Show - Season 1 Reviews:
Deaf Viewer 
2008-09-14 - The show itself was wonderful. However, the DVDs are marked in the Amazon description has having subtitles, and the box is marked with the "CC" symbol meaning the shows are closed captions for the hearing impaired. I have tried these DVDs on two different DVD players, plus two different television sets, plus my computer. There is no option on the DVDs to turn on subtitles, and no captions are displayed despite having captions always turned on (I am deaf and always have the captions turned on).
These DVDs are totally useless to me without the captions. This is why I give the DVDs a low rating. Omission or false advertising? Who can tell.
Memories... 
2008-08-05 - I started watching this show when I was a little kid. All the episodes and the humor came back and it was great. I have always loved Bill Cosby's sense and style of humor. It is so refreshing to listen to something clean as opposed to the crap that is circulating through today's television.
Excellent series!
2008-08-04 - The Cosby Show, like Three's Company, is a timeless classic comedy. I used to watch this on tv when it was originally released and used to laugh out loud. I still do and I am close to 40. Even when it comes on tv, I will still stop to watch it. This is a good comedy series for the whole family and actually has the ability to teach some good values. Highly recommended and especially for family viewing.
Great Family Entertainment
2008-07-04 - I bought the first two seasons and my family and I really enjoy them. Our kids range in age from 13 to 18 and we watch one episode almost every night. Some great values to pass on to your kids and some good parental pointers as well.
dvds in excellent condition, although the case had several tears (underneath the plastic wrapping).
2008-06-09 - dvds in excellent condition, although the case had several tears (underneath the plastic wrapping). i don't particularly mind, but it would be helpful to include such details for the convenience of the consumer.
